


Can I help you?

by FoundFandomFamilies



Series: Running Out Of Time [1]
Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: ...t w i c e?, All my homies fucking hate tags, Did I just write tag instead of tags, E r u g h T a G, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, bruh I’m too busy making AUs I don’t have time to TAG who do you TAKE ME FOR
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:40:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26351299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FoundFandomFamilies/pseuds/FoundFandomFamilies
Summary: A man out of time and a boy caught in a storm enter a bar-Just kidding, the kid can’t legally drink, the man just enters an alleyway and the boy yells at him a bit.
Series: Running Out Of Time [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1914811
Comments: 8
Kudos: 136





	Can I help you?

It’s always raining.

You can find shelter, sometimes, but the rain always finds a way to get in.

It chases you, through the cobblestone brick, through the gutters, and pipes above. It sneaks in through the wooden window stills, and follows with the cold when you open the door.

It’s always raining in this place. And where it’s not cold and damp, it’s loud, crowded by those who hide from it.

There’s always people, bustled together, through the few safe alleyways and buildings. The rain is always on the edges, keeping them close, making them louder.

He finds he prefers the rain to the loud. He can deal with the constant cold. The rain can’t hurt him. It’s the crowds that can.

He likes to write about the rain. About what’s on his mind, curled up against the cobblestone brick. It’s hard, trying to write, with the journal resting unbalanced on one arm, and head lowered to protect it from the water, but he manages. The rain can damage the pages, but it can’t take the journal away from him. The rain doesn’t watch him as he writes. It’s simply there, around him, but never leaning over him.

He’d stolen a coat, recently. He felt bad about it, someone had worked hard on it. It was hard to feel guilty however, as he pulled it tighter around himself. It was still raining, and his hands were still pale white and shaking as he wrote. But he felt warm. It was worth it even if it was for one night.

No one goes in this alleyway anymore. The stores have been long closed, its owners moved to warmer parts. Away from the rain. He’s bunched up against the stone steps of one, left cold and empty. It’d be warmer inside, logically. He knew what parts of the roof didn’t drip anymore, and what parts of the floor weren’t at risk of caving in. 

He knew he had the key in his pocket to get inside. But he couldn’t ever bring himself to return. He’d rather the rain than memories.

No one ever went in this alleyway anymore, aside from him. 

There’s footsteps approaching. 

No one ever went in this alleyway anymore.

He pockets his journal. 

_No one ever-_  
  


His breathing hitches.

“Can I help you?”

The person in front of him looked perfectly normal, wearing a grey shirt, and black sunglasses resting perfectly on the edge of his nose. The person was a stranger, the umbrella in their hands undamaged, and obsidian coloured black. 

The puddles underneath them hadn’t shifted as they walked.

“Can I help you?” They ask again, and the boy responds with a shaking,

” _Stay back._ ”

“I’m Eret,” the person introduces calmly, blending in with the grey muted colours of the alley, yet too sharp in contrast to belong. “Can I help you?” He asks a third time.

“You can help me, by staying back,” the boy growls, and the rain from above slams down upon his head, tensing him up further with every drop. The pounding was getting louder in his ears.

He can’t see the person's eyes behind the glasses. He can’t tell what the person's thinking. 

“It’s pretty cold, huh?”

The boy steps back. 

“What do you want?”

“I want to help.”

“No you don’t.”

“You’re not the first like you I’ve encountered.”

“I’m not like anything.”

“You’re right, you’re not. You’re nothing like anything I’ve ever seen. You’re powerful, but you’re scared of it, right? Let me help.”

“ _Stay_ . _Back_.”

“I want to help,” ‘Eret’ presses, “you can’t stay here. You won’t survive.”

The boy digs his feet into the smooth, rain tarnished ground. “I’m not leaving.” 

“You must.”

_“I won’t.”_

A lot can change in a split second. The hand briefly clenches around the handle, and the boy tenses.

“Kid,” The being says instead, and he closes the umbrella with a loud snap. The rain still doesn’t start to fall on his hair. “Whoever you’re waiting for, they’re gone.”

“I know.” He grits out, and he clenches his fists inside the pockets of his coat. “I’m still. not. leaving.”

The person goes to talk, then stops, like he knew he would have been interrupted. 

The boy speaks anyways.

“How do you even know?”

“Lucky guess,” they say, and the boy's eyes narrow.

“Where are you from.” 

“Can we get out of the rain first?”

“I’m not leaving.”

The other sighs. “Then I guess I’ll answer here...”

“I’m not from here,” they say, like that wasn’t obvious, “I’m like you. We’re the same.”

The rain continues to drop down on his brown hair. It engulfs his senses, the repetition pounds, with each one their ability to focus decreases. 

It doesn’t affect the other at all.

“No we’re not.”

“You don’t have to believe me yet,” the person says, “just come with me.”

Thunder cracks through the rain.

**_“I won’t!”_ **

The being finally takes a step back, as hands snap up to the boys ears. The rain isn’t stopping, the rain is laughing, the rain is surrounding and pushing and shoving and screaming.

**_“I won’t, I won’t, I won’t, leave me alone!”_ **

“KID!”

The rain stops.

Everything stops. 

There are gentle hands on his ears, that slowly remove them, and tell him to _breathe_.

The rain has stopped.

The boy blinks, slowly, not quite sure what he’s seeing.

_The rain’s frozen._

It’s.. it’s not moving, stopped mid fall. The hands on his are **boiling** , almost uncomfortably so. 

Movement is frozen around them.

The person in front of him looks actually part of the world around him for the first time.

“Your time is wrong,” the boy says finally, for lack of a proper response, and the glowing hot white eyes crinkle up a little. The sunglasses had fallen off in his approach.

“Just a bit,” they say, and the boy swallows.

“You’re kinda fucked up.”

“ _Thanks_.”

“Eret, was it?” The boy asks shakily, and he just gets another reminder to breathe in response. The boy squeezes his eyes shut. He can feel the haunting eyes still watching. 

“Yeah, Eret works.” Is the answer they finally get, and the boy nods.

“Tubbo.”

Pale blue eyes finally open, and meet the already welcoming white.

“Nice to meet you properly.” Eret says with a smile, before glancing around. “Don’t suppose you could stop the rain properly?”

Tubbo rubs at his face, that has started to get a bit more colour in it.

“I..I can try.”

“Sounds good enough to me.”

**Author's Note:**

> POWERS AU TAKE TWO MOTHER FUCKERS LETS FUCKING GOOOOOO


End file.
